Wife of late limo driver says his lack of proper license not a factor in massive crash that killed 20

My husband shouldn't be blamed for the limo accident that left 20 people dead, claims his widow.

The wife of the upstate New York limo driver who died along with his 17 passengers and two pedestrians in a massive crash had a feeling that something was wrong when she couldn’t reach him Saturday.

"I felt something, and so I called his boss,” Kim Lisinicchia told CBS News. “I was like, 'Did you hear from Scott?' And he said, 'I'm glad you called me, 'cause there was an accident.'"

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Investigators are trying to figure out why Lisinicchia, 53, blew through a stop sign where State Route 30 meets Route 30A in Schoharie about 45 miles west of Albany.

The limo crashed through the Apple Country Store parking lot and slammed into a shallow ravine.

The National Transportation Safety Board is probing the crash, the deadliest U.S. transportation disaster since a 2009 plane crash near Buffalo killed 50 people.

Scott Lisinicchia (Facebook)

Investigators have already determined the limo wasn’t supposed to be on the road — and Lisinicchia wasn’t qualified to drive it. According to authorities, Lisinicchia lacked the needed “passenger endorsement” on his commercial driver’s license to drive the limo.

The stretch limo from Prestige Limousine flunked an inspection last month — its chassis, suspension and brakes were all unsafe, Gov. Cuomo said.

"I don't know what that's about," Lisa Lisinicchia said when asked about her husband's lack of a proper license. "Even if he didn't have the proper license, this still would've happened and I feel like he still would have got blamed."

She blamed the limo company for the deaths, saying the company’s bosses should have been “more responsible.”

“You have a company where you have people's lives….in your hands. That's unacceptable," Kim said, remembering that there were times that her husband didn’t want to drive the limo.

“He did complain,” she recalled. “There were a few times where he told me, like I overheard him say, 'I'm not going to drive this, like this, you need to give me another car.'"

“I just want my husband to be vindicated,” she said. “I have to stand for him 'cause nobody else will."

Sources said a sticker like this one was affixed to the doomed limo when it failed its inspection weeks before the deadly crash (Obtained by the Daily News)

A lawyer for the owner of Prestige denied the company had any culpability during two television interviews aired Tuesday.

“We understand what the governor is saying, what the DOT is saying, certainly it is in their interests to point away from any failures on behalf of the state,” Prestige lawyer Lee Kindlon said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“But as we understand right now, the inspections last month were minor things: windshield wipers, a latch on a windshield that needed to be fixed.”

Joe Morrissey, a spokesman for the DOT, blasted back against that claim.

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“The assertion that the limousine was cleared to be on the road following the September inspection is categorically false,” he said in a statement. “The vehicle was subject to inspections and the owner was warned not to operate the vehicle; the vehicle was placed out of service.”

Sources said the vehicle was affixed with a large sticker after the failed inspection deeming it out of service. “This vehicle is NOT to be operated until repaired,” the sticker read.